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<\/a>Just PART of one of the dressed-up houses in LA! Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n
And, after the spookiest time we had last<\/em> year, (by having to just stay at home,) I’m happy to report that there’s actually a lot to do again this go-round.<\/p>\n Some Halloweekend treats you can bake.<\/p><\/div>\n I’m sure that no matter where<\/em> you live, there will be a plethora of private parties on Saturday night, not just in my<\/em> Hollywood-centric hometown. And if you’re into Halloween but not partying, why not just drive around town and scope out the very creative, (and even some not so much,) decorated homes? For example, there’s a \u201cWitch’s House\u201d in Beverly Hills that’s the highlight of every<\/em> Halloween. And Mr. X and I even came upon a fabulously-decorated abode in the Valley in LA last year, at the height of the pandemic!<\/p>\n Karen Salin’s Halloween nails. Photo by Mr. X.<\/p><\/div>\n For you homebodies out there, there’s always spooky baking to be done with the kiddoes\u2014just make everything black and orange, or with black licorice cats, pretzel broomsticks, and candy corn. And how about a pamper sesh, where you all adorn your fingernails with cool decorations, as well! (I’ve been getting raves on my<\/em> talons for over a week now.)<\/p>\n If you prefer to go out, there are several amusement parks that do special presentations at this time of year, such as Knott’s Scary<\/em> Farm, (as opposed to the usual Berry<\/em> Farm, for those of you who don’t live out here,) hayrides, scary exhibits, and scary movies all over every town. Not to mention that trick-or-treating is back! This is the perfect time to be wearing any<\/em> kind of mask! (Just don’t let kids stick their bare hands into a communal bowl, as the children in the pic at the top of this article are doing! Ew!!!)<\/p>\n I wish my party had looked like this one!<\/p><\/div>\n My<\/em> love of Halloween began early on in life. As a matter of fact, the only non<\/em>-birthday party I ever threw in my life, (prior to my first Christmas tree trimming fete when I was in my mid-twenties,) was a Halloween soiree for my seventh grade gal pals from my new middle school. My parents even let us have a grown-up dinner (Halloween-themed, of course,) at the dining room table! And it was exclusive\u2014only about a dozen girls, as opposed to my hitherto-fore elementary school birthday parties where I invited my entire class!!! (I didn’t want anyone to be left out.) This one was a sort-of low-key affair, because we wanted to show how grown-up we were in our new school, but we were all still happy to be wearing costumes, playing games, and giggling about boys. It’s actually the type of soiree that people of any<\/em> age can throw, and I highly suggest doing so. Not all Halloween parties have to be extravaganzas like those of Heidi Klum.<\/p>\n Look at the date on this magazine cover, depicting a squad I’d love to be part of!<\/p><\/div>\n Another idea for Halloweekend is to stay in and be safe, while watching scary movies. Of course, I have a story about doing that, as well. But first some background on it. I’ve rarely had a co-ed crew I’ve hung-out with on the regular, (until my clubbing days in the late ’90s.) I think that’s mainly because I’ve always had a boyfriend since I was fifteen! My first bf, when I was in high school, was in a college fraternity, so we always had people around. But we didn’t smoke weed, so we rarely partied with those guys or couples. My next two short relationships were devoid of posses, as well, and then my next serious guy had a major<\/em> group of homies, but they all drank and I never did, so I didn’t have a good time with them, which meant I wasn’t really a part of it. And then came Mr. X, who, as we all know by now, is not a fan of socializing. I’ve adored and appreciated my life, but when I see groups of friends seemingly loving being together, I do miss that aspect a bit at times. Which leads me to this amusing (yet sort-of frightening) tale.<\/p>\n Karen Salkin at her friend’s bat mitzvah, when Karen was in her late ’40s!!!<\/p><\/div>\n I was in New York for one Halloween when I was in my mid-forties, though everyone always thought I was about fifteen years younger. (No lie!) I was staying at my friend Jo’s house, and was very friendly with her young daughter, Sam, and Sam’s friends. I had been to Sam’s bat mitzvah earlier that year, (which means she and her friends were around thirteen-or fourteen-years-old,) and I heard later that one of her guy friends had a crush me on me, which was just adorbs! So this particular Halloween, Sam and her teen squad begged me to come to neighborhood haunted houses with them. Of course, they really needn’t have begged\u2014I was thrilled to have something fun to do on that holiday, with people who were even more fun. Two of the girls even had a matching cowgirl costume for me. We had a blast. Until…<\/p>\n …they all decided to go back to the house of that crushing-on-me guy to watch scary movies because…his parents weren’t home! I, of course, declined the invite, but that boy came up and draped his arms around my shoulders, and told me to not worry that I’d be scared because…he’d be there to hold my hand!!! (Remember\u2014he was fourteen<\/em> at the time!)<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>